1 Aventuras Familiares (Family Adventures)

Aventuras Familiares (Family Adventures)
Directed by: Cheto Castellano
Co-Directed by: Lissette Olivares & Daniel Benavides
2011
Elapsed Time: 30min10 seconds
Screening format: Digital or DVD Screener (Region 0)
English
Synopsis of Family Adventures
In the near future, at the threshold of a political transition that seeks to transform the
state of Chile into a private entity, a non-traditional family begins their adventure.
Triggered by the discovery of a family secret, mother Trans (Carola Jérez), father
Payaso (Samuel Ibarra) and porn-star wannabe daughter Jot (Aida Vera) begin a lifechanging journey that takes them from the countryside to the apocalyptic urban center
of Santiago, where they must battle against cyborgs controlled by the evil multinational
Horsehead Corporation. As the family joins an anarchist battle led by Segundo
Malatesta (Antonio Becerro) and Rata (Domingo Santamaría) they must struggle to
keep their family united while fighting for a better future.
Concept
Aventuras Familiares is an experimental film and transmedia project that seeks to
define and develop new audiovisual languages and possibilities. As an experiment in
genre collage Aventuras Familiares merges science fiction, drama, and suspense, while
citing and incorporating mass media communication aesthetics including the parody of
Latin American telenovelas, reality tv, as well as exploring marginalized mass media
1 forms like pornography. Conceived as a hybrid and interdisciplinary entity, each
element in its production (story, photography, editing, genre, casting, special effects,
etc.) attempts to exceed the structure of traditional film narratives. Furthermore, as a
collective endeavor, Aventuras Familiares sought to enforce an anti-hierarchical
production structure and its creative concept was developed by three consultants
(Cheto Castellano, Daniel Benavides, and Lissette Olivares) along with substantial input
from its production crew. An important element in this project is that none of the cast
members identify as actors -- instead, the characters are played by Chilean
underground contemporary performance artists and by street performers. Similarly,
much of the original “script” was drastically transformed during production since part
of our objective was to blur the boundaries between performance and film. All of these
interdisciplinary attributes interrupt the reproduction of the real and problematize
frontiers between performance and film, visual culture and visual anthropology,
documentary and fiction, fantasy and science fiction, creating what we believe is a
unique experiment in transmedia.
Español
Aventuras Familiares
Dirigido por: Cheto Castellano
Co-Dirección: Lissette Olivares & Daniel Benavides
2011
Tiempo: 30min10 seconds
Formato de muestra: Digital or DVD Screener (Region 0)
2 Sinopsis
En un futuro próximo, en el umbral de una transición política que busca transformar el
estado de Chile a una entidad privada, una familia no-tradicional comienza su
aventura. Tras descubrir un secreto familiar, madre Trans (Carola Jérez), padre Payaso
(Samuel Ibara) y su hija Jot (Aida Vera), comienzan un viaje que les cambiará la vida, y
que los llevará desde el campo hasta un Santiago apocalíptico donde tendrán que
enfrentarse contra entes cibernéticos controlados por la multinacional Cabeza de
Caballo. Cuando la familia se une a una batalla anarquista dirigida por Segundo
Malatesta (Antonio Becerro) y Rata (Domingo Santamaría) tendrán que luchar para
mantener la familia unida mientras pelean por un futuro mejor.
Concepto:
Aventuras Familiares es un experimento transmediático que ayuda a definir el campo
de nuevos medios y lenguajes audiovisuales. Concebido como un collage de género,
Aventuras Familiares cita ciencia ficción, drama, y suspenso mientras también se
incorpora estéticas tomadas desde los medios masivos, incluyendo la parodia a la
telenovela Latinoamericana, televisión reality, además de explorar medios masivos
marginalizados como la pornografía. Un ente híbrido e interdisciplinario, cada
elemento de su producción: guión, cinematografía, edición, casting, efectos
especiales, etc., excede y problematiza los códigos tradicionales del cine narrativo.
Dirigido como proyecto colectivo y anarquista, Aventuras Familiares reune
conocimiento diverso y aplica una estructura anti-jerárquica como su eje creativo; Su
concepto fue desarrollado por tres consultores (Cheto Castellano, Daniel Benavides y
Lissette Olivares) además de incorporar sugerencias del equipo de producción. Un
elemento importante en este proyecto es que ningún miembro del elenco se identifica
como actor, al contrario, los personajes fueron interpretados por artistas de la escena
de performance contemporánea y por performancistas callejeros. Además, mucho del
“guión” original fue transformado substancialmente durante producción ya que parte
de la meta con este proyecto fue llamar atención a los bordes borrosos entre el cine y
el arte performático. Todos estos atributos interdisciplinarios interrumpen la
reproducción de lo real y problematizan las fronteras entre la performance y el cine, la
cultura visual y la antropología visual, documental y ficción, fantasía y ciencia ficción,
creando un experimento único en la transmediación..
3 Presentations
World Premiere, Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics, NYU (2011)
Columbia University, Undergraduate Scholars Program, NY (2011)
Thailand Premiere, Chiang Mai University, Media Arts & Design Space for Innovative
Thinking, (2011)
Mix 24 Queer Experimental Film Festival NY; NOISE: Trans‐Subversions in Global
Media Networks, Curated by Jian Chen, (2011)
Chilean Premiere, Cine Arte Alameda, Santiago de Chile, (2012)
Berlin Premiere, BPFF, Berlin, Germany (2012)
Kino Movimento, National Short Film Day in Germany (2012)
Donau Festival, Krems, Austria (2013)
Brazil Premiere, PopPorn Film Festival, Sao Paulo, Brazil (2013)
Review of Aventuras Familiares by Transmedia Scholar Dr. Jian Chen
http://hemi.nyu.edu/hemi/es/e-misferica-81/chen
Director Bios
Cheto Castellano is a visual artist and filmmaker. He was born in Chile but now leads
a nomadic lifestyle between the Americas and Asia. His current work explores how
colonialities of power, nature, and gender produce conditions of slavery and
oppression for both human and non-human species. Three recent collaborative
projects, Kiltr@s (2012), Revisiting Art Farm (2012), and SEEDBANK (2012), develop
transmedia methodologies for multispecies storytelling using visual anthropology,
video installation and architectural design. He is the co-founder of Sin Kabeza
Productions, a multimodal artist-activist research platform dedicated to the creation
and dissemination of experimental transmedia that was recently recognized for its
socially engaged art practice.
Lissette Olivares is an artist, activist, and transmedia storyteller that is committed to
interdisciplinary approaches to knowledge production. Her work as an artist-agent
investigates the realm of human, animal and ecological exploitation through diverse
technologies including creative writing, performance, intervention, experimental video
and multimedia installation. Three recent collaborative projects, Kiltr@s (2012),
Revisiting Art Farm (2012), and SEEDBANK (2012), develop transmedia methodologies
for multispecies ethnography using visual anthropo(zoo)logy, video installation and
architectural design. She is the co-founder of Sin Kabeza Productions, a multimodal
artist-activist research platform dedicated to the creation and dissemination of
experimental transmedia that was recently recognized for its socially engaged art
practice.
Daniel Benavides is a Chilean filmmaker. In 2007 he completed a feature length film,
Un Asesino Entre Nosotros, (An assassin amongst us) a thriller based on a murder case
4 in the south of Chile. He received his cinematic training in the University of Chile and in
Cuba’s Film School. He began his career with two shorts that explore and intervine
subtle formal elements of narrative cinematorgraphy and that incorporate simple but
captivating stories. He currently lives in Santiago and works as a consultant in
numerous audio-visual projects.
Sin Kabeza Productions 2011
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